London is full of famous attractions but it also has hidden gems that are only discovered by the most curious and persevering. Here are my favourite, the well-known and the not so famous, all treasured for their historical and aesthetic value:

The well known

Westminster Abbey and Jewel Tower
Tower of London
Tower Bridge opening for a boat
St. Paul's Cathedral
Houses of Parliament
British Museum, Russell Square
Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guards
Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington
Science Museum
Natural History Museum
Museum of London
Imperial War Museum, Waterloo
Hampton Court Palace, Hampton Court
National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery
Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly
Trafalgar Square
St. James' Park
Regent's Park
Hyde Park Corner and Speaker's Corner
Kew Gardens
Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner
Monument to the Great Fire of London
Whitehall Banqueting House, Whitehall
Cabinet War Rooms
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Horse Guards Building
Globe Theatre, South Bank
Clink Prison Museum
The London Dungeon
Kensington Palace and Gardens
Tate Modern
Tate Britain
The Golden Hinde

The hidden gems

Guildhall Art Gallery with Roman Amphitheatre
Ruins of Winchester Palace with Rose Window
Fake facade at 23-24 Leinster Gardens
Holland Park House
Barber Surgeons' Garden and Roman Bastion near the London Wall and Wood Place
Abbey Wood
Roman Ruins at the Barbican and the Barbican Highwalk
Moor Park House